Infographic Thursday: Proofreading vs Editing

Source: www.visual.ly

Guest Post on Incantation Paradox by Annamaria Bazzi

Linzé: What inspired you to write the Incantation Paradox?

Annamaria: It was an unusual morning when I slipped out of bed from the wrong side. The innocent act set the stage for the entire day—wacky. The fog lingering in the peripherals of my vision set freaky tone to the day. I looked in the mirror and giggled as acts of mischief crowded my mind.

With my mug of latte I sat before my laptop and sent an email to a good friend. ‘I don’t know why,’ I typed, ‘this morning when I looked in the mirror I saw my young self.’ No I was not crazy, was actually chuckling as I wrote the email because my friend usually takes everything very literally.

His response triggered thoughts of Freaky Friday, the Walt Disney movie starting Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, and other movies where the protagonist ended up in a young body or an older one like Big with Tom Hanks. The world seemed to enjoy such tales—I did too.

The adventure began and I wrote an entire novel in first person to better express the protagonist’s feelings, but when I was done second thoughts crept in my mind. I wanted to get to know Eric, the antagonist, much better. I wanted to know what made him do the things he did?

Now it became a bit more difficult to show all of Dolores’s emotions and internal struggles, but I believe Eric has added a new and mysterious side to the novel.

The next adventure began as I got to know Eric while rewriting the novel in third person limited. It also gave me an opportunity to get to know Jason better and actually let him fall in love with the woman inside Mona’s body.

When the adventure ended and Incantation Paradox became a published reality, like any writer, I turned to the next project to keep me busy.

Linzé: So there you have it. Early morning thoughts that turned into a novel. Writers do get ideas in normal situations too ;) You can find more info about the Incantation Paradox on 

Amazon / smashwords / B&N. Enjoy!

Author Bio

Although born in the United States, Annamaria Bazzi spent a great deal of her childhood in Sicily, Italy, in a town called Sciacca. Italian was the language spoken at home. Therefore, she had no problems when she found herself growing up in a strange country. Upon returning to the states, she promised herself she would speak without an accent. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Computers with a minor in Spanish.

Annamaria spent twenty years programming systems for large corporations, creating innovative solution, and addressing customer problems. During those years, she raised four daughters and one husband. Annamaria lives in Richmond Virginia with her small family where she now dedicates a good part of her day writing.

You can visit Annamaria at:

blog http://annamariabazzi.com

website http://www.annamariasbooks.com
facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Author.annamariabazzi
email annamariascorner@yahoo.com
twitter https://twitter.com/AMBazzi
goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6890526.Annamaria_Bazzi
Check in on Kendíka’s facebook page https://www.facebook.com/kendika.burkeshire

Feeling disconnected from my story: Is this normal?

Being a writer can sometimes be an odd experience. Case in point: my third novel, Michael's Mystery.

It wasn't planned to be the third novel, in fact I had already written the third novel (untitled thus far) when I came up with the idea for Michael's Mystery.

Aside from publishing STORM, and a few other short stories, I have not done with Michael's Mystery that I had done on the first two, or even the now new number four, five and six. Yes, they are already drafted, and only await the heavy hand of editing before publication.

I didn't sit down and write the story of Michael and Andesine beginning to end, I stopped and did other projects in between. And now it is coming back to bite me.

As a pantser, I don't plan my stories in detail, my "planning" attention goes into my characters and their environment.

Keeping that in mind, I had to go back and reread what I have already written to pick up the trail of my story. Now that is normal practice for me, except that this time I ran into a wall. The internal editor wall.

The more I read, the more I wanted to sit down and fix the plot gaps, the grammatical errors and streamlining it with book 2 and book 4. Being consistent is after all very important in a series.

I have no idea if this ever happened to anyone else, but this is a first for me.

Is the story done and ready for editing? No.

I estimate that it needs about 15k words more. The word count is not that important, but it definitely needs the battle scene that has been threatening for a chapter or two and of course the ending needs to be done too. And knowing my characters, they won't be able to keep their hands off each other either, so a scene with an intimate encounter might also happen somewhere.

What do I do now? Write? Procrastinate? Edit?

For the short term, ie. Camp NaNoWriMo, I am working on another project to keep going on my target.

I have not decided yet on the course of action come August, but the deadline for publication of Michael's Mystery (a novel of the Grandmasters) is coming closer at a rapid rate.

And so I keep plotting ...

Infographic Thursday: Make your day better

Source: www.visual.ly

Release Day: Deadly Betrayal by Kristine Cayne

An Afghan woman’s rights activist with a dark secret.

Azita Seraj, doctor and women’s rights activist in Afghanistan, is horrified to learn that her late husband’s brother, Khalid Mullazai, is giving his eleven-year-old niece to a militant warlord. Desperate to save the girl, she reaches out to the only hope she has: an American soldier she treated several years earlier for a near-fatal gunshot wound. A wound he received in an ambush she’d unwittingly initiated. Can she enlist his aid and still keep secret her betrayal?

An American soldier searching for answers.

Kaden Christiansen never forgot the beautiful Afghan doctor who saved his life, and when he receives her cry for help, he doesn’t hesitate. He relishes the opportunity to see Azita again, and being in-country will give him a chance to hunt down the person responsible for the ambush that left one of his men dead.

A deadly conspiracy that threatens them both...

Pursued by Mullazai and the warlord’s fighters as they travel across the country disguised and posing as a married couple, Kaden and Azita begin to fall for their own act and for each other. But Kaden senses that Azita is holding back. Is the reason their cultural differences, or something darker?

Add it to your Goodreads TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17801275-deadly-betrayal

Catch up on the award-winning DEADLY VICES series before the launch of book three, DEADLY BETRAYAL on July 21st!

DEADLY OBSESSION - 4.4 stars on 107 reviews

Nic Lamoureux's perfect movie star life is shattered by a stalker who threatens any woman close to him. When he meets photographer Lauren James, the attraction is instant--and mutual. She's exactly the sort of woman he craves, but the stalker makes deadly clear Lauren is the competition. And the competition must be eliminated.

DEADLY ADDICTION - 4.8 stars on 39 reviews

When Rémi Whitedeer and Alyssa Morgan uncover a drug-fueled scheme on the Blackriver Reserve—a scheme involving a biker gang from Alyssa’s past and a militant sovereigntist group led by Rémi’s cousin—Rémi must choose between loyalty to family and tribe or his growing love for Alyssa. Will Rémi and Alyssa have to leave everything behind—even their identities—for the chance at a future together?

Infographic Thursday: A Blogging Strategy

Source: www.visual.ly

International Authors' Day Blog Hop

Thank you to Debdatta of  http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in who is hosting this blog tour to celebrate International Authors' Day.

A short while ago I asked for articles about being a writer, but it seems that my fellow South African authors are very shy when it comes to sharing their stories.
From experience, and having some great friends outside my home country, I decided that we all could benefit from a compilation of our stories.

You may submit a maximum of 2 articles, between 1500 to 2000 words each, on YOUR experiences, or YOUR advice on writing or being a writer. This is not a project on general advice, it has to be from a personal perspective. First person POV is recommended. Only English language submissions will be considered.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
1.    Time Management
2.   What made you decide to write/publish
3.   What to write - fiction or non-fiction
4.   Which genre is best
5.   Sex or no sex
6.   Collaboration projects - multi author and/or anthologies
7.   The positives/negatives of alpha and beta readers
8.   What you expect from a reviewer
9.   Book blog tours
10.  Choosing an editor
11.  Book cover design
12.  Author Branding
13.  Marketing
14.  Social media
15.  Ebook or print?
16.  Children’s books
17.  YA and NA books
etc.

Please submit your articles/stories to blog.tour.info@gmail.com as a .doc, .rtf or .txt file.

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2014, 12pm, South African time (GMT+2)

We are looking for around 45-50 essays to publish in ebook format to distribute for free via Smashwords and Amazon. It will be uploaded to Goodreads, and you will be tagged, if you have a profile.

If your article(s) are selected, your author bio, book links, social media links, and blog / website details will be requested for inclusion in the publication.

Please ensure your work is edited before submission.

We reserve the right not to select every submission for publication.

The project is open to any and all published authors.

So here is your chance to share your story, and inspire many others to gather their courage to face their fears, and take that final step into the world of being a published writer.

Infographic Thursday: Hooow tooo beee Moore CREATIVE!

This is one long, long, long infographic :) Creativity is something that many people take for granted, simply because it is the way we are, but it does not have to be only that way.
Anyone can be creative, and it is not even that difficult.
Okay, shutting big mouth here, because the creative writing process is different for everyone. I am sure artists will agree that the argument holds true for them too.
I often get the weirdest ideas at the oddest moments, and 'what if' is the one phrase my brain seems to love above all others. Don't get me wrong, some of my brainwaves do not deserve to be mentioned, while others are explored in some or other story that I am concocting at the time.
Once in a while, the idea sticks and grows to become a short story or a novel.  Sometimes it even ends up worth reading.
May your creative endeavours give you hours of pleasure, and satisfy that deep dark need to ... write!


The infographic can be found on www.visual.ly

Invitation: Share your experiences and advice with others

The South African market is small and a challenge at the best of times. If you are a published author (indie or not) what advice, anecdotes and tales would you like to share with other writers? Drop us a line if you are interested - details in the graphic 

Help build your audience by taking part in this project, aptly named FEARLESS, because our journey may not easy, but neither could we give in to the fear that prevents us from fulfilling our dreams.

Come on, you have always wanted to!

Blog Tour: Bootie and the Beast by Falguni Kothari

 

Fairytales don't end with True Love's Kiss, they begin with one...

Diya Mathur (aka Beauty), celebrated supermodel and Party Princess of India, is adored by everyone. She works hard, plays hard, and has the biggest shoe fetish on the planet. But after she purchases one baby bootie, Diya's reputation is in ruins. There's only one place to escape the rumours - Texas, under the protection of her lifelong friend, and secret love, Krish Menon (aka the Beast).

Financial whizz-kid, CFO and entrepreneur, Krish is a brooding workaholic with a charisma that still brings Beauty Mathur to her knees. He has no idea, of course! They've shared a bond since childhood - a special friendship that thrives on sparring, teasing and goading - but with Diya back in his life and under his roof, Krish's latent desire for her explodes. And when he finally admits to the secret that has never allowed him to commit to any woman - especially Diya - everything changes. Krish might finally realise how much he wants his Beauty. But he won't get her until Diya has tamed her Beast.

Author Bio and Books Links

Falguni Kothari is a non-traditional homemaker who accidentally tripped on a misplaced soccer ball and fell down the writer’s rabbit hole. Having no more experience with the whole writing/publishing shebang than being a voracious reader and movie buff, it more than surprised her that she could, in fact, write a full-length novel.

Now, several manuscripts down, when she is not trying to find a way out of her many domestic duties or cajoling her Latin dance coach to compose a rumba on Bollywood music, she is found embroiled in some or other scandal—sorry, creating stories—on her ever-faithful laptop.

She’s authored Bootie and the Beast, It’s Your Move, Wordfreak! and Scrabbulous Impressions, a short story. She rumbas across a whole smorgasbord of Social Media daily and loves to connect with most living things.

Website: www.falgunikothari.com

Twitter: @F2tweet https://twitter.com/F2tweet

FB Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/falgunikothari.author

Blog: http://falgunikothari.blogspot.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/falgunikothari

Google+ : https://plus.google.com/+FalguniKothari

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/falgunikothari/

Book links for Bootie and the Beast:

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bootie-Beast-Indian-Author-Collection-ebook/dp/B00KM0ZQ4S/ref=pd_rhf_eebr_p_t_1_RZEY

Amazon India:

http://www.amazon.in/Bootie-Beast-Falguni-Kothari/dp/9351065065/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398098298&sr=1-2

Mills and Boon:

http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/bootie-and-the-beast

Infographic Thursday: Oops, not again!

Infographic from www.visual.ly

I have recently read an article about famous writers, alive and dead, who chose to write their novels by hand. While I write my books on my computer, I still enjoy the weight of my heavy Waterman fountain pen when writing in my journal.
I claim no perfection in my writing, but I feel that I make fewer errors when writing by hand. Am I going to start writing my novels or short stories by hand? Hell, no! If I did I will never finish anything, simply because of the time it will take to do that, and then transcribing it to computer for it to be published.
I suppose like most people, non-writers included, I have come to rely on word processors to fix my mistakes even as I make them.
But computers don't know what we want to write, it uses an algorithm to correct words to be the closest match to the wrong word we typed. Or the rules of good grammar that is programmed into its code.
So it really is up to us to check what we are writing, and understand that the words we are using are the ones we intended to be there. Then again it helps if you know a good editor.
Do you still struggle with these annoying little mistakes as I sometimes do despite all the words I have written and published?